Shifter assemblies are used with transmissions in vehicles for changing gear positions of the transmission. For example, the shifter assemblies can be used to shift an automatic transmission into a plurality of automatic modes, such as Park, Reverse, Neutral, and Drive. The shifter assemblies can also be used to shift the automatic transmission into a manual mode akin to a manual transmission. Once in the manual mode, a driver may shift the automatic transmission from gear to gear manually.
A conventional shifter assembly includes a shifter operational along a first path between the plurality of automatic modes. The shifter is then moved into a second path for switching from the automatic mode to the manual mode. Once in the manual mode, the shifter is operational along the second path in a fore to aft manner to change gears within the automatic transmission manually. The second path is typically either parallel to and spaced from the first path or is transverse to the first path. In either case, the shifter must be moved laterally relative to the first path.
A different type of conventional shifter assembly includes a shifter that is mono-stable, meaning it returns to a common position after activation. These types of shifters are becoming more popular, especially where the shifter assembly is fully electronic.
There remains an opportunity to merge the automatic and manual modes found in a dual path shifter assembly with the functionality of a mono-stable shifter assembly.